Glenn Beck launches Blaze campaign

2/25/13 9:12 AM EST

Glenn Beck has launched a campaign to bring TheBlaze, his online libertarian news channel, to national cable and satellite television.

“You probably pay good money every month to your TV provider for access to channels like MSNBC and Al Jazeera America -- channels that you might not watch, or even agree with,” Beck writes in a letter on his website, at which he encourages fans to ask television providers to carry the channel. “Adding TheBlaze will ensure that you and your family have a source of news and analysis that you can trust and that doesn’t betray your values.”

Beck announced in January that he planned to relaunch The Blaze, formerly GBTV, as a global libertarian news network, featuring a nightly news program. Dish Network has carried the channel since September of last year, and is supporting Beck's bid for a wider audience, according to Brian Stelter, who broke today's news. (Beck, like Al Jazeera, once tried to buy his way in through Current TV -- though he said they never gave him a seat at the table.)

Despite being off the national television radar, Beck's online media empire has been enormously successful, while his performance for Dish has far exceeded the expectations of executives. As of May 2012, Beck was the eleventh highest-paid celebrity on the Forbes Celebrity 100, putting him ahead of Tom Cruise, Donald Trump, and radio's most influential talking head, Rush Limbaugh, with an earned income of $80 million a year.